Electoral College 101 – popular vote VS electoral vote

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will likely win the popular vote but not the 2016 election. University of Nebraska – Omaha Political Science Professor Dr. Randall Adkins says to understand the system we have to go back to our founding fathers.

Dr. Adkins says, “When they created it they didn’t want to give the power of selection to the Congress because they were fearful of the separation of powers. At the time they were fearful of giving it to the people because most people in the country at that time were uneducated. They couldn’t read or write. They could have very easily influenced so the choice they made was to give the votes to the states.”

Dr. Adkins says each state had to select electors who made their decision based on what was the best interest of the country. Each state is given one electoral vote for each member of Congress per state. In the evolution of the role of the elector mirrors the evolution of the political party. Then we have states that become one party dominate states, they allocate their electors on a winner take all basis. Only Nebraska and Mane can split electoral votes.

Many people believe the Electoral College it is no longer needed in this day and age and we should do away with the Electoral College and go to a popular vote. Dr. Adkins says in order for that to happen the Constitution would need to be amended or you have to change on how electors are allocated at the state level. He says we are not going to see a mass of states make changes.